The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-07-29
American children.


my women and children Chayls.
Lamb said, and It Is well known ~
Byron, whose feeling towards womsr
was much like that of refined .alI,.
(supposing such character 10 exiss1
could not bear to see a woman g,
Who does not feel a shock when
woman or child falls fsr below II.
idealP A modern poet expressed a.
wish that he might be compassaa
about by the pure and innocent forms
of children; but he would not bava
cared to be surrounded by qroup Ii :
American boys and girls, shriekino
slang at the top of their voices. eatlns
candy voraciously and delivering the;S
opinions with confidence upon matters
beyond their comprehension. Between
the ages of twelve and nineteen the
American boy is apt to be a monde.
script, restless, dissatisfied and ~.
natural person. Not content with
being q boy, he tries to make himself
man by the use of cigarettes, by man
nish airs, by precocious knowledge ii
the world.
A traveller of some distinction, who
was in this country not long ago, re.
marked that it made him shndder 10
bear our boys and girls freely express
aae opinions upon religion, politics
science, what not; and If we do not
shudder ourselves it is because we are
accustomed to the practice. Who has
not heard young slip of girl, whose
education outside of elementary studies
at school has been conducted ehiefg
by ''Rhoda Broughtonn and like
masters of thought settling off-hand
| the question of universal salvation.
the controversy between the Catholic
| and Protestant churches, ''women's
rights" the merits of the Anglican
creed or the ethics of divorce with al
much freedom as she would use in
criticising her mothers new bonnet or
! her fathers character. The children
themselves can hardly be blamed, for
| they are what their surroundings make
| them. What evil influences perYert
the American child! Partly, no doubt,
the perversion may be ascribed to the
| working out, or to the redHcti0 al Gb-
! SurdUn1, of the democratic spirit a
man who incorrectly considers himself
| tC be as wise, as we'll bred, as impor-
tant as any body, in the community,
who, in a word, looks up TO nobody,
| will not be reyerenced by his own
children. The feeling of respect and
the sense of suboFdination do not exist
in his family, and consequently the
children are entirely deficient in that
J A. - -
! childhood. and lacking in this,
they are not children, but imps.
Plato said that in an ultra
democratic state the very horses and
dogs in the street wore an air of impu-
dence and self-will. Children in all
ranks suffer also from too hasty de-
velopment
! Their studies are often forced; they
are encouraged or allowed to take part
/ in conversations that are above them,
/ and they are surfeited with foolish
| literature A child should read few
books. and some of them, at least,
| should be such as he does not altogeth-
er understand. for then his imagination
! win be developed, his fancy enriched
and his intellectual coriosity stimuiat-
ed. There is nothing SO good for him
as to let him alone. The perceptions
of children are wonderfully acute, but
! they are only dulled by much reading
of Juvenile Literature. = or by the pre-
4 mature exercise of their reasoning
/ powers. In a measure, the peculiar
faults of American children may donbt-
\ less be attributed TO climate. When
boy delivers his most ordinary remarks
/ in a loud soprano scream, or Climbs ali
over railroad car. or bolts bis dinner
like hungry pup, the just man, how
ever much annoyed, will consider tnat
our dry and rasping climate has oyeI-
set tile nervous system Of the lad.
Moreover, unless his case IS an excep-
tional one, he has never been taugnt to
modulate his voice The child whose
mother invariably speaks in high pltsc.n-
ed tones can hardly be expected 70 als'
cover for himself that there is anotner
and a better way On the whole, then'
the more tAe subject is examined tne
more clearly it appears that the Pc
culiar faults of American children may
truly be described ais q partly gso
| graphical and largely parental ~ 1ne1
origin. .
Their virtues are ais striking as thelr
faults Very few children are aEo-
gether truthful, but certainly sns
American child is pre-eminent u VIZ
respect, surprising even his Englsa'
contemporary. Our children are, more.
over, SO frank, so nimblewitted ana "
sympathetic that often they cnarls
away the disagreeable impression e
their worst faults. AS for the AMER
cnn girl. she Is perhaps most engagansS RI
when she might still BE- called clnlu.
4 But with this complex and fascinating
rYprsnn- the desnair and the de-